Opinion issued April 16, 2015

In The

Court of Appeals 

For The 

First District of Texas 

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NO. 01-15-00313-CR

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IN RE NII-OTABIL NELSON, Relator

Original Proceeding on Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Relator, Nii-Otabil Nelson, proceeding pro se and incarcerated, has filed an 

“Ex Parte Emergency Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus Seeking Bail,” 

contending that he is being unlawfully confined in the Harris County Jail without 

the benefit of bail, pending a motion to adjudicate for the offense of alleged 
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violation of the terms of his community supervision.1 We dismiss the application 

for want of jurisdiction.

This Court does not have original habeas corpus jurisdiction of a bail issue 

in criminal cases. See Ortiz v. State, 299 S.W.3d 930, 932 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 

2009, no pet.) (citations omitted); see also In re Estrada, Jr., No. 01-14-00819-CR, 

2014 WL 5780339, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Nov. 6, 2014, orig. 

proceeding) (citations omitted); TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 22.221(d) (West Supp. 

2014) (original habeas corpus jurisdiction of the courts of appeals is limited to 

cases in which a person’s liberty is restrained because the person violated an order, 

judgment, or decree entered in a civil case). “Article 11.072 is the exclusive means 

by which the district courts may exercise their original habeas jurisdiction under 

Article V, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution in cases involving an individual 

who is either serving a term of community supervision or who has completed a 

term of community supervision.” State v. Guerrero, 400 S.W.3d 576, 582 (Tex. 

Crim. App. 2013) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see TEX. CODE 

CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.072, §§ 1, 2(a), 8 (West Supp. 2014) (habeas applications 

 1 The underlying case is State v. Nelson, Cause No. 1372073, in the 182nd

District Court of Harris County, Texas, the Honorable Jeannine Barr

presiding. On March 9, 2015, relator filed a notice of appeal from the denial 

of the amended motion to adjudicate guilt, which was assigned appellate 

cause number 01-15-00248-CR, and remains pending. Because the pro se 

relator appeared to initiate an original proceeding in this Court by filing this

habeas application seeking bail on April 7, 2015, the Clerk of this Court 

assigned it a new appellate cause number from his pending appeal.
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in felony/misdemeanor cases seeking relief from orders/judgments ordering 

community supervision “must be filed with the clerk of the court in which 

community supervision was imposed,” and the denial of such applications may be 

appealed to the court of appeals “under Article 44.02 and Rule 31, Texas Rules of 

Appellate Procedure.”); cf. TEX. R. APP. P. 31.1 (pertaining to appellate review of a 

trial court order in a habeas corpus or bail proceeding). Because there is no 

indication in relator’s habeas application that it was filed in the district court first, 

that it was denied, and that he is appealing such a denial, we lack jurisdiction to 

consider this application in the first instance.

Accordingly, we dismiss the habeas application for want of jurisdiction.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Jennings, Higley, and Huddle.

Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).